Archive for June, 2010

This article comes to you from the comfort of my parent’s basement in Minnesota.  Yes this is the first time I have ever written a post from said locale so I thought I would point it out.  For one night only, the “blogger” sterotype holds true for me.  Anyway, my wife and I drove up to the land of 10,000 lakes yesterday with the boys happily watching DVDs for most of the trip.  It is a trip we make every summer to spend some time with my parents and so our boys can see their cousin Sandy. (more after the [...]

I mentioned last week that I’d won a contest with a prize that afforded me the rare sports opportunity of throwing out the first pitch before a Royals game. My experience was interesting to say the least. And you bet I’d do it again if given the chance to. So how’d I do?

So I’ve had some time to look a little bit more at Christian Colon, the fourth overall pick in last night’s first round, and I’m still not sure where I stand on his potential.  I know I should take a side, but Colon is such a bland pick, I can’t quite motivate myself to applaud or condemn the Royals for selecting him.

The Royals selected Cal State Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon with the fourth overall pick in the 2010 First-Year player draft.  After recent speculation that they’d select University of Miami catcher Yasmani Grandal (who went #12 to Cincinnati), they were also linked to LHP Chris Sale from Florida Gulf Coast (who went to the White Sox at #13). Some scouting reports project he’ll stay at shortstop, some say his limited range will force him to move to second base.  He’ll jump above Jeff Bianchi and Rey Navarro once he signs to be the top shortstop prospect in the Royals system. I’ll [...]

Don’t forget to join in on the Fansided Network’s First-Year Player Draft hosted by Wally Fish. The chat starts at 5:15 pm CST as we get ready for the first picks to come in.  Check in and you can join myself and other Fansided columnists as we discuss the picks. As for the Royals, more and more noise is coming in that they’re leaning towards LHP Chris Sale over catcher Yasmani Grandal.  Those early reports of an agreement seem to have been smoke and mirrors as Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo have Grandal slipping all the way down to the [...]

The Royals started strong but fizzled out in their brief four-game series at Fenway Park, taking the first two games easily, but scoring only one run in the remaining two.  Would the Boston hangover hit Kansas City again, sending them spiraling towards a prolonged losing streak like in years past?  Would the Royals bats wake up after being put to sleep by Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester? Well let’s just go take a look-see, eh?

Since I have nothing of value to offer my legions of readers regarding major league baseball’s imminent amateur draft (don’t say it – don’t even think it), I thought I might write about my first visit of 2010 to Kauffman stadium last Friday. Now, you might think life as a contributing writer at Kings of Kauffman is all glitz and glamour; A-list events with A-Rod and Lady Ga-Ga (a singer, I believe), post-game parties at Blonde, and the occasional charity gig for some orphans or disaster victims. Surprisingly, it’s sometimes even better than all that. Take this past weekend for [...]

If you are a Royals fan you are probably aware that the Kansas City Royals were reported to have a pre-draft deal in place to select University of Miami Catcher, Yasmani Grandal 4th overall.  Plenty of Royals writers/bloggers subsequently came out in support of the selection of Grandal.  Michael published a post on Saturday relaying the news and I took the opportunity (via the comments) to voice my skepticism of the report and question the wisdom of the pick.  I’m not on the overflowing Grandal bandwagon, and if he is selected by the Royals I will probably dedicate an article [...]

With the excitement of tomorrow’s First-Year Player Draft, the Fansided network will be hosting a live chat during the first round, the first supplemental round, and beyond (because the only thing more fun than a draft is talking about the results of the draft). Check in at CallToThePen.com about 3:15 pm CST for the link to the chat room. Then, starting at 5:15 pm CST, join myself, our MLB Director Wally Fish, and other columnists from the Fansided MLB Network to discuss the picks as they come in. The draft starts at 6:00 pm CST. As Royals fans, you may [...]

Greg Schaum passes on the scoop of the night, as according to Frankie Piliere of MLB Fanhouse, “multiple industry sources” state that the Royals have made an agreement with University of Miami catcher Yasmani Grandal to select him with the fourth overall pick in the 2010 Amateur Draft which begins on Monday.  Behind a solid top-three of Bryce Harper, Jameson Taillon and Manny Machado, the rest of the draft is a talented group, but there aren’t any big standouts. I briefly looked at Grandal as a draft option on Kings of Kauffman a couple of weeks ago.  Wally’s most recent [...]

Bob Dutton just reported that, according to Dayton Moore, LHP Noel Arguelles – the second-most hyped Cuban defector of the 2009 offseason – is unlikely to pitch this year due to “shoulder soreness”. Arguelles, 20, had been touted as equal to a first-round pick when he was being courted by Major League teams as an international free agent.  His signing with the Royals is a testament to their new aggressiveness in the international market and was a surprise to many, as they signed him ahead of the Red Sox, Yankees, and others.  The Royals hadn’t discussed his progression very much [...]

I’ll get into this sometime in-depth, but I like the idea of a sports fan’s checklist – those events, moments, highlights that any fan should aim to do. A scavenger hunt of fandom, you might say. For example, a couple of years ago, the Royals and Indians were rained out. Luckily for me, I was off the next day and they’d rescheduled the previous game as a double-header. So check “Attend a Double-Header” to the list. I’m still waiting on the “Catch a Foul Ball” part, but there’s time. The reason I bring it up is because this Saturday, June [...]